


The Long Game

by st_aurafina



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 14:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1120720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_aurafina/pseuds/st_aurafina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The night Regulus was named as a traitor, Severus wrote two lists.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Long Game

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shyfoxling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shyfoxling/gifts).



The night Regulus was named as a traitor, Severus wrote two lists. One was a plausible collection of places that Regulus might go to ground, if he were as stupid and obvious as his brother. The other was a list of places where Regulus had taken Severus to get drunk and fuck. One he handed to the Dark Lord, and the other he memorised and destroyed with flame. The Death Eaters were dispersed to scour the country, which left Severus free to work through the second list with methodical focus. 

Regulus had chosen a flat in Chelsea, a Muggle place with low ceilings and yellowed wallpaper that reeked of cigarette smoke and old cabbage. Severus flicked his wand at the feeble lock and it fell open. Regulus didn't even flinch. He sat cross-legged on the thin orange carpet, with papers and empty bottles arrayed around him. 

"When was this one, again?" Severus couldn't often fault his memory, but for some reason he could only remember staggering up the cold, dark stairs and down the dark corridor. 

"Summer holidays, the year you finished at Hogwarts," said Regulus. "You were very, very drunk. Remember, I was telling you about how they made absinthe? You were drunk enough to let Muggle liquor past your lips. You made some stupid excuse about it being near enough to potion making." 

Ah. The green bottle. Severus walked into the centre of the debris, toed an empty bottle aside, and sat down gingerly, facing Regulus. "Nobody knows what you did. Most people seem surprised you could be important enough to cause so much chaos." 

Regulus laughed, an easy laugh, something Severus had not heard for a long time. "Well, I am a Black, after all. Chaos is within the family purview." He tilted his head at Severus. "Are you going to hand me over? I wouldn't blame you. They're going to get me eventually. You may as well advance yourself. Make something good of the situation." 

Severus took his hand, pushed the sleeve up, and examined the bandages on Regulus' forearm. They'd talked theoretically, in another place like this, about ways to eliminate the tattoo. There was less blood than Severus had anticipated. 

"He won't find me that way, at least." Regulus clasped his arm to Severus, and pulled him close. "We have a little time." 

"For what?" Severus struggled free. "They'll kill you, Regulus! All you had to do was keep your head down." Panic was making Severus nauseous. This is not how it was between him and Regulus. He'd always been the one who knew what to do, the one that Regulus admired and looked to for safety. This calm, assured person cheerfully destroying his own chances of survival was more terrifying than anything he'd seen among the Death Eaters. 

"Listen to me, Severus." Regulus shifted across the carpet until they were sitting face to face, very close. "I know what I'm doing. This is my decision, and I'm glad of it. This war is wrong. Not because we could get killed, but because everything Voldemort stands for is evil. I didn't understand it until now. It's actually quite simple." 

"You're simple," said Severus, aghast. "I can't make it go away, Regulus. I can't think of a way to save you." 

Regulus kissed him, hard and volatile, tasting of firewhisky. "I don't want it to go away. I'm not giving up, Severus. I'll run, and I'll run a long way. Maybe I'll make it? Who knows? There's always a chance I'll do something so phenomenally random and stupid that not even the Dark Lord could anticipate it." He rocked back on his heels, and grinned, manic. "Even if it's to be a short hunt, I'll give them a good run." 

Severus didn't move, didn't even breathe. How could one person change so much and so fast? It was alchemical, but he had no process to understand it. What did it feel like, to have the world shift beneath you, and for things to become suddenly, miraculously clear? Clear enough that your life meant little in comparison?

"Not you, though." Regulus cupped his face. "You're for the long game. That's your thing; you can plan a hundred steps ahead, you think your way out of everything before they get to you. Promise me you'll keep your cards close, don't play them too soon. And make them pay. Make them pay to the end. You don't forget." 

"I won't forget," said Severus, and kissed him back, because it was probably the last time, because it was going to be so wrong without him, because Regulus was somehow magnificent in his madness. "To the end."


End file.
